ewen21

That is indeed correct, but I was highlighting our pitching and not our defense. Our pitching is a bigger far more obvious problem than team defense. We are ranked 23rd in walks and hits per inning. That is a telling stat. I am not waving off the importance of team defense, but at this point what is the remedy? Trade for a good glove at the deadline? I am wondering if we have chips to trade for a decent pitching prospect and I would be willing to take a flyer. Pitching has long been a shortcoming and it is maddening to me how this team never seems to be able to draft and raise starting pitching through the ranks. The ones that were halfway decent ended up getting dealt. Over the last 20 years, or since Matt Garza, our system has produced next to zilch in starting pitching.

I remember day drinking at my local watering hole in anticipation of a Liriano start in Detroit. I was just about crying in my beer when he got yanked from that game. The most unforgivable thing about 2006 was getting swept by Oakland. We had that wonderful run only to be swept by Oakland, the first two at home, As great as that run was it was completely erased for me with that feckless performance against Oakland.

THat is true, but even if were were at the top of the league in fielding percentage (which is an unrealistic expectation) where would that place us now with regard to earned runs given up? Maybe five to ten slots better than third worst in the league. Elite defense isn't elevating this team nearly enough to become a contender.

The Twins are third from the bottom in earned runs in all of baseball. I understand the Twins are tied with six other teams who played 73 games thus far and some teams have played as little as 69 games. I really don't give a damn. Take a look inside the division. We have given up 347 EARNED runs in 73 games and Cleveland has given up just 266. In games KC has given up 315, Chicago 296 and Detroit 272. We can have a GG at every position we'd likely still be the worst in the division.

And yet this is a guy who was celebrated for having a decade of service with the Twins and he still has not reached 800 hits. Molly once said, "Buxton could hit .150 and he's still worth it". Now that his defense is only that of a pretty good CF his offense really needs to pick up if we are going to shower him with accolades.

Buxton has 782 at bats with runners in scoring position in his career with 238 Ks and a .231 batting average in those opportunities. He's even worse in close and late situations. For his career 445 at bats, 174 Ks and a .202 batting average. He has 538 at bats in high leverage situations and he's struck out 182 times in those opportunities. Thus far this year, he is 0-17 with RISP. Just sayin

Guys like Banda and Clemens are going to be on the rosters much longer on teams that really aren't contenders than they would be on contending teams. I can accept that the Twins are not serious contenders. Just don't sell the idea that they are if we are going to have a roster like this. There are so many players that are either unproven or are unreliable due extensive to injury histories. THere are many many teams like this. The Twins are just one of those and it will require a lot of good fortune and luck to get into the playoffs. As far as advancing in the playoffs with this current roster? I do not count on that

As far as Clemens is concerned, he is 30 years old and has 838 plate appearances. With that much exposure he has a .203 lifetime batting average and a ,263 OBP. That is pretty awful. If he were to be DFA'd today no one should be unhappy about it.

I understand your point of view, but in this case why not "anyone"? Banda has a (well) below average career WHIP even after having two solid years in LA in his 30 and 31 year old seasons. Subtract those two seasons (relatively late in his career) and consider what he has done in all the other seasons as a major league reliever. It is actually very ugly. This isn't to say I am advocating for this particular move right now. A guy like Banda should be expendable at any point if this team is actually seriously going to contend for winning the division.

Hahaha. Really now. I will actually be at the game this evening. This is fun brief little interlude in my day. Lighten up I was not the one shouting that at Duran and I do not think the fan was right. Perhaps Duran should take leave and get some psychotherapy. His reaction wasn't that big a deal, although it was unprofessional and he needs to get over it.

I am being a bully somehow? How? I am taking the unpopular side of an issue here and I knew full well how this would go down. I do not feel threatened or bullied. Do do not understand how a grown pro-athlete blows their composure the way he did.

No, wrong. I do not have it backwards because the context does not excuses Duran in my view. It was not an appropriate reaction in my mind. Period. I also think for a grown man who is supposed to be a professional it is WEAK for him to get wound up over that particular comment. To be blunt, what I reacted to was all the negativity directed toward "Obsvr" post. In no way did he defend the fan, nor have I. I think the trust of what he said about Duran's reaction being soft and weak was 100% accurate. Grow thicker skin, handle it better. Flipping the bird at a fan for saying "go kill yourself" (clearly not meant to be taken literally) was an overreaction. And again, for the third time, I am not condoning the fan. That is what Squirrel insisted I was doing and that is entirely false.

I know you are a moderator, but you are out of line with that bolded comment. I do not go to ballgames to scream and yell at players and I do not appreciate fans who do. You mistakenly took my criticism of Duran's lack of professionalism as a defense of this kind of fan behavior and you couldn't be further from reality. I literally made this clear in my first reaction to "Obsvr's" very unpopular post (which I saw as entirely reasonable)

This right here. The Twins are "investigating" the fan comment: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48496143/mlb-twins-investigating-red-sox-outfielder-jarren-duran-allegation-fan-comment Seems as if holding Duran to some kind of professional standard in this situation is a problem here. As if two things cannot be correct at the same time. Like you said, "no justification for the heckler" but also Duran needs to do better. As it is he has had a fan incident where he was suspended two games already: https://www.mlb.com/news/jarren-duran-suspended-two-games-by-red-sox My criticism of Duran isn't a defense of the fan although some people here appear to have made that leap. Whatever.

What an absurd notion. You'd engage in that behavior if you could? I doubt poster known as "Obsvr" is a professional athlete making millions of dollars to play in front of paying customers. When you have literal thousands watching people are going to shout at you. Furthermore, Duran is a guy who was already suspended for having a verbal confrontation with a fan. It doesn't make the fan right, but the reaction was unprofessional and childish.